Google gets a caffeine injection, returns results that are buzzing

Google has launched a new search indexing system that provides consumers with "50 percent fresher" web search results.

The real-time infused indexing system, Caffeine, will help users find content that has recently appeared on the web. Caffeine will help link searchers with current news stories, blog posts, real-time updates or forum comments that are more relevant to their search queries than the three-week-old web page the indexing system might have returned in the past.

"[W]hen you search Google, you're not searching the live web. Instead you're searching Google's index of the web which, like the list in the back of a book, helps you pinpoint exactly the information you need" explains Carrie Grimes, Google Software Engineer on June 8.

"[E]xpectations for search are higher than they used to be", adds Grimes. "Searchers want to find the latest relevant content and publishers expect to be found the instant they publish."

Google created Caffeine to fill users' growing need to be connected with up-to-date, real-time content. To provide "fresher" results, Google changed the way they indexed the web, analyzing web pages in small portions on a continuous basis instead of refreshing large portions of their index every couple of weeks.

For consumers, this means that Google's search results will help them find new information on existing pages plus information on newly published pages, much faster. For web publishers, it means that their newly added content will appear on Google faster than ever before.

Caffeine, however, will not change the way in which Google ranks its pages.

"We've built Caffeine with the future in mind", says Grimes. "Not only is it fresher, it's a robust foundation that makes it possible for us to build an even faster and comprehensive search engine that scales with the growth of information online, and delivers even more relevant search results to you. So stay tuned, and look for more improvements in the months to come."